Hidey Holes

Beautiful Hideaways, Bolt Holes & Harbours in England & Wales

Hidey Holes charts Robin Whitcomb’s journey, via motorhome, through Cornwall, Devon, Pembrokeshire and Northumberland in search of Britain’s unknown natural wonders.

The south west coastline is teeming with the most stunning nooks and crannies: Robin even wandered into the diminutive Porthgwarra, a remote old fishing cove that was surprisingly instantly recognisable as the setting of hit BBC TV series, Poldark.

Robin’s light-hearted account of his mishaps and discoveries is accompanied by landscapes by local painters and his own photography, as he marvels at the castles which line the rugged Northumbrian coast and pays a visit to Greenway House, once home to Agatha Christie. We are all familiar with the picture-postcard holiday spots, but can miss the coves, fishing villages and tiny harbours which are just as beautiful.

Robin Whitcomb was born in Scarborough in 1945. After leaving school he spent two years working for his grandfather’s oil business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Latterly, he has also worked as a journalist and played cricket for the MCC and rugby for Richmond RFC. He now coaches sport at St. Paul’s Junior School and has two sons, Patch and Beanie.

By Robin Whitcomb - RRP: £14.99 - ISBN: 9781785890642
Published by Troubador Publishing
www.troubador.co.uk

Somme 100th Anniversary

Major & Mrs Holt’s Definitive Battlefield Guide • Seventh GPS edition

The Somme was deeply marked by the battles of the First World War: the August invasion and the race to the sea in September 1914, the battle of the Somme from July to November 1916, the German spring offensive in March 1918 and the consequent Allied counter-offensives in Picardy from August to September 1918. In 1916, in contrast to the Franco-German dual at Verdun, the Somme became a world arena: a meeting point for more than 20 nationalities and where three million soldiers fought on the 45-kilometre front line.

This is the most helpful, practical and detailed battlefield guide to make the best of any visit to the Somme. Because Major and Mrs Holt have been touring, travelling and exploring the Somme for over 35 years, they are able to share their own moving experience of the battlefields. Knowing each country road, trail, cemetery, memorial and site perfectly, they have chosen not to write another academic history book, but have developed their own way to help visitors and provide human, historical and literary information which depict an essential dimension of the Great War.

This book will take readers from the largest and most well known memorials to the smallest and well-hidden ones in the countryside. Major and Mrs Holt have mastered the secret of making the book very informative and a pleasant read.

By Major Tonie and Mrs Valmai Holt - RRP: £16.99 - 304 pages - Paperback - ISBN: 9781473866720
Published by Pen & Sword Books Limited
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

The Somme

The Epic Battle in the Soldiers’ • Own Words and Photographs

The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of the Great War. It was there that Kitchener’s famous ‘Pals’ Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations of a nation, hopeful of victory, were agonisingly dashed.

Because of its legendary status, the Somme has been the subject of many books. However, nothing has ever been published on the Battle in which the soldiers’ own photographs have been used to illustrate both the campaign’s extraordinary comradeship and its carnage.

“It was the bloodiest battle in our history. Yet it’s taken 100 years to get an insight as vivid as this – a brilliant book commemorating the centenary, astonishing photographs taken by soldiers’ illicit cameras... and their mesmerising, humbling descriptions of the horrors they endured,” says Event magazine.

Richard van Emden has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War and has written widely on the 1914-18 conflict. Previous books include Britain’s Last Tommies, Boy Soldiers of the Great War, All Quiet on the Home Front, Prisoners of the Kaiser and the top five best-selling The Trench. He has visited the Somme and Ypres every year since 1985 and has an expert knowledge of the First World War battlefields. He currently lives in London.

By Richard van Emden - RRP: £25 - 356 pages - Hardback - ISBN: 9781473855212
Published by Pen & Sword Books Limited
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk